ARLINGTON, VA. - The newest US Grocery Shopper Trends report from FMI – The Food Industry Association focuses on how the future of retail will be impacted by the pandemic. 

“Throughout this past year, American grocery consumers have developed a deeper relationship with their kitchens, increased their healthy eating consciousness, and have learned new ways to shop,” said Leslie Sarasin, FMI president and chief executive officer. “We see shoppers engaging in more stock-up trips to support their at-home cooking, exercising new online shopping skills, and letting their personal concept of being well impact their food and shopping behaviors. Looking ahead, we expect many of these trends to continue.” 

The US Grocery Shopper Trends 2021 identifies three major focus areas: 

  • The Era of At-Home Meals - Today, 58% of shoppers report eating more at home and nearly half (49%) report cooking or preparing their own meals more than before the pandemic. When it comes to grocery shopping to support these at-home meals, shoppers have a newfound appreciation for the task, with 42% saying they like or love to grocery shop.  
  • Ecommerce and Grocery Shopping - The number of online grocery shoppers grew to nearly two-thirds (64%) of all US adults, with newcomers from every generation. Frequency of online grocery shopping also increased, with more than one-fourth (29%) of online shoppers placing a weekly order. For the first time, we saw many more online grocery shoppers now consider a Mass retailer to be their primary store. 
  • The Concept of Being Well Evolves - Shoppers’ concept of being well involves an interlocking, circular relationship among the domains of shopping, cooking and eating and this phenomenon helps us understand shoppers’ engagement with the evolving retail landscape. FMI has created an online experience at www.FMI.org/GroceryTrends that shares shoppers’ insights on being well in their own words. 

FMI has released four decades' worth of grocery shopping trends reports. The 2021 edition was prepared in partnership with The Hartman Group.